Senators, Bishop blank Rangers

Don Brennan, The Sports Xchange

The SportsXchangeMarch 29, 2013

OTTAWA -- If it was Ben Bishop's final game at Scotiabank Place as a Senator, he left a lasting impression. The 6-foot-7 goalie came up large against the New York Rangers, stopping 24 shots in a 3-0 victory Thursday night for his first shutout of the season and second of his career. "It's really exciting," said Bishop, whose name has been mentioned prominently in trade rumors as the Senators decide what to do with a crowded crease. "It's nice to do that in front of these fans. Hopefully, it's not the last. We'll see going forward here." The victory gave the Senators a three-game season sweep of the Rangers, who eliminated them in the first round of last April's playoffs. The Rangers had won six of their previous eight visits to Ottawa. Defenseman Andre Benoit's power-play goal with 49 seconds left in the second period stood as the winner as Ottawa improved its league-leading home record to 13-2-3. Guillaume Latendresse and Colin Greening, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Senators. Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves for the Rangers, who are battling for a playoff spot. "I don't know what to say. I have a few thoughts, but I don't think it's going to help our group right now," Lundqvist said. "Bottom line, it's not good enough. We're not going to make it if we ... we need everybody right now. We need the top plays, the smart plays, for 60 minutes. We're playing teams that are really working hard. We have to match it. If we're not matching it, we're not winning." Latendresse's goal at 12:16 of the third period came just after the Senators survived a penalty to Jakob Silfverberg. The key to the kill was a diving save by Bishop off Ryan McDonagh that prompted fans to chant the goalie's name. "I realized I was in big trouble, I kind of thought he had that short side," said Bishop, who improved his record to 8-4-0. "At the last second, I just dove over there and got a piece of it." The Rangers, who were coming off an inspiring 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, managed only four shots on goal in the first period against the Senators. "We didn't push any type of level of pace to force them to play better," New York center Brad Richards said. "(Bishop) made some saves, but it's not like we were standing around the crease, banging in one-timers. The position we're in, we've got to get a lot more at him." The Rangers power play produced nothing on four chances as the Senators improved their short-handed success rate to 89.4 percent, second best in the league. "They've been playing pretty good lately and we continue to play well at home," Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "We executed pretty good throughout the game, and the few times we don't the goalie is there to step up for us. "All in all, a solid game. Power play come up with a huge goal, penalty killing was really good. We didn't let them get a lot of looks, we pressured them a lot. Forced them to make plays they didn't want to make. Seems like everybody was working hard tonight." NOTES: Sidelined with a high ankle sprain since the previous Rangers visit to Ottawa on Feb. 21, Senators goalie Craig Anderson practiced for the second day in a row but couldn't put a timetable on his return. "Physically, the pain is going to be there, so that's part of it," said Anderson, who still leads the NHL in save percentage and goals-against average. "Mentally, it's telling myself I'm able to do the job I'm supposed to do. Every day, there seems to be less and less pain, I can do more and more. I look forward to day I can go out there and there is no limitations." ... Rangers center Brian Boyle played his 300th NHL game ... Lundqvist was making his ninth consecutive start in the New York net ... The Senators recalled Mike Hoffman from Binghamton for just his second NHL game (first since December 2011) and put him on the first line with Kyle Turris and Daniel Alfredsson